A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF SUTTON'S HYPOTHESIS FOR DIFFUSION FROM A CONTINUOUS POINT SOURCE

Abstract

Sutton's hypothesis for diffusion from a continuous point source has been evaluated using the data obtained during Project Prairie Grass. It is found that the hypothesis predicts the observed concentration distributions only if there are two values of Sutton's “n”, one to characterize lateral diffusion (n_y) and one to characterize vertical diffusion (n_z). Statistical tests indicate that n_y and n_z are invariant with distance between 100 and 800 m of the source, but that the values of n_y and n_z appropriate for these distances exceed the values within 100 m of the source. It is also shown that neither n_y nor n_z can be specified by n_w1, the value of n found from a power-law fit to the wind profile in the lowest 8 meters.